Two months ago, there was buzz in Bristol that Chris Berman was on the verge of re-signing a big contract. Bristolites were surprised. First, his contract wasn't set to expire till May 2013, so why do anything 10 months before? Especially since ESPN let plenty of prominent contracts go down to the wire this year? And the working theory before that had been that Berman would finish his current contract and be shown the door.

So, it'll be business as usual for Berman, Bristol, and ESPN viewers. But one question lingers: In ESPN's season-opening Monday Night Football doubleheader, Berman will be in the announcing booth. This is something Berman wanted for a long, long time. He wanted the booth assignment really badly, and ESPN kept saying no (for obvious reasons). So did ESPN give him his long-awaited gift to set a good tone for negotiations? Or will we hear Berman on the occasional Monday night game from here on out? Let's pray it's the former.